Brown Supporters React To Revelation In Memoir

BOSTON — About 70 people stood patiently in front of Barnes & Noble at the Prudential Center in Boston on Tuesday. They were waiting to get their copies of U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s ballyhooed new autobiography, Against All Odds: My Life of Hardships, Fast Breaks, and Second Chances — and they were hoping to get them signed by the senator himself.

The buzz around Against All Odds has been building ever since Brown revealed in a 60 Minutes interview that he’d been the victim of sexual abuse as a child.

At the Prudential Center, some of Brown’s supporters were still trying to figure out just what to make of that news. “I thought it was a little shocking that he came out and said that type of stuff,” said Eric Moreira of Dartmouth.

“I respect him for that,” Moreira added. “Definitely got a big buzz in the news recently. Not sure if that’s to boost sales of the book or what — but I respect him for saying those things and being truthful.”

But others were less interested in the motives behind Brown’s disclosure than their possible consequences. Jan Petty of Boston said that Brown’s story could be heartening to other sex-abuse victims.

“I don’t know whether he’s happy that that’s what everyone is talking about,” Petty said. “But I think he’s going to probably help some people who’ve been through the same thing he has, and let them know that you still can make it.”

Some conservatives have criticized Brown for his willingness to break ranks with his party and vote with the Senate’s Democrats. But Petty has no problem with Brown's heterodoxy.

“Not really,” she said when asked if she’d been disappointed by Brown’s votes across party lines. “I thought he would have to do that in order to – hopefully – get reelected.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, Against All Odds was number 30 on Amazon.com’s list of its top 100 bestsellers.